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Neighborhood Networkshave already been organized in some areas

of the Canyon, and new networks are continuously forming.These networks provide a way for neighbors to

communicate with one another in the event of a disaster. Volunteer Neighborhood Coordinators

will receive accurate and timely information directly from T-CEP about road closures,

direction of a fire, areas that are most threatened,locations of Safety and Survival Areas, etc. The Neighborhood Coordinators

can then pass that information along to each of their neighbors. Groups of residents, organized by street, have held neighborhood meetings

and devised plans of action that include:

NEIGHBORHOOD NETWORKS109

1. Caring for children or assisting people with mobility problems or disabilities.2. Rescuing pets.

3. Creating a neighborhood phone directory and phone tree. 4. Organizing tours of neighbors’ homes to show utility locations.

5. Making arrangements to turn off an absent neighbor’s utilities in an emergency.6. Acquiring permission to enter a neighbor’s home to retrieve items of value.

7. Organizing First Aid and CPR classes.8. Taking CERT (Community Emergency Response Team) training.

To find out whether your neighborhood is currently organized, call T-CEP at 310-455-3000.

If your neighborhood is not currently organized, NOW is the time to get started.

If your neighborhood is currently organized, be sure to meet annually(at a minimum) to update neighborhood information and planning preparations.

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Developing an Equine Emergency Plan

Brandi Augello and Georgeann Erskine have taken the lead in creating a plan to evacuate the forty-plus horses in the Cheney area. The dilemma was how to get sucha large number of animals out in a very short amount of time when the roads could beclogged with hordes of other evacuees. So it was decided that they would first gather

the animals into a pre-built holding pen in a big open field—and then seeif there was enough time to take them out safely.

Neighborhood Network Success Story—CHENEY CANYON12 111

Planning began at a T-CEP neighborhood gathering at The Mermaid in 2001, featuring T-CEP chair Pat MacNeil andAlli Acker, the team leader of the Equine Emergency Response Team. Alli told of her experience in Cheney Canyon duringthe 1978 fire when she gathered up a herd of horses and led them to safety through the “S curves.” Following theT-CEP presentation, neighbors broke up into groups, largely defined by streets and geography. The horse owners formedtheir own group. The Mermaid Great Room was abuzz with strategizing residents.

Georgeann and Brandi have been evolving an evacuation plan ever since. Both speak Horse fluently and are members of the State Park’s Mounted Assistance Unit (MAU). A neighbor has generously donated an enormous fieldwhere the temporary corral will be erected during fire season. Pipes will be driven into the ground for fence posts and thenstrung with wire; temporary hitching posts will be added. Horse owners in Cheney meet periodically for dry runs to practice evacuation procedures, such as calmly leading horses to the holding pen area, as demonstrated below left.

During the chaos of an emergency, horses can easily be separated from their owners. Two methods of identification are shown above: ID tags on the halter and writing one’s

phone number directly onto the animal’s body with special crayon markers. During trial runs, the marker numbers have dissolved.

Duct tape with written contact info stuck into the horse’s mane is now being tested.

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Kirsten Bohman began organizing her neighborhood in 2002 by putting together a meeting at Abuelita’s with about forty residents from the “Valley View Loop,”

a part of lower Fernwood. She invited T-CEP Neighborhood Network Coordinator Randy Neece, Allen Emerson of Arson Watch, and a representative from the County Fire Department to speak.

Since Fernwood is such a large area, the importance of a “divide-and-conquer” approach was urged by the advisors. So the “Loop” was broken down into twelve more manageable

areas, with one lead individual for each section. Kirsten is head of the Summit Drive area and encourages residents to find a neighbor-buddy to exchange keys with,

turn off utilities in an emergency, and coordinate other preparedness planning.

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Dividing up the Neighborhood to Bring it Together

Neighborhood Network Success Story—LOWER FERNWOOD

113

Kirsten Bohman is one of a number of residents in Fernwood to take on the task of being

a Neighborhood Network Coordinatorfor the immediate area.

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Kirsten Bohman shown with her “neighbor-buddy” Ben Squire, overlooking a verdant Fernwood panorama.

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CELL PHONES MIGHT ALSO BE USELESS since they rely on transformers, which will no doubt be affected by power outages. That’s why it’s important to know how to use a HAM radio or an FRS (Family Radio Service) radio in order to stayinformed and to communicate with neighbors. FRS radios are inexpensive (average $30 per pair) and are similar to thewalkie-talkies we used as kids. Ham radios are even better but cost a little more and require a license.

During and immediately after a major disaster, information will be transmitted by T-CEP’s Disaster Radio Team (DRT) on FRSchannel 7. These announcements will contain information about road closures, details about the disaster, evacuationroutes, and other important information, and will be updated at the top of each hour or as often as possible.

DO NOT TALK ON THIS CHANNEL—IT IS FOR RECEIVING INFORMATION ONLY.

Your neighborhood has been assigned a specific FRS channel, which will allow neighbors to communicate with one another without hearing cross-talk from surrounding areas. It is important for everyone to have an FRS radio and to learn how to use it. After the updates are broadcast on channel 7, each neighbor should tune their FRS radios to their neighborhood channel and talk with one another.

Family Radio ServiceDuring a major disaster, it is highly

probable that phones will be out in many parts if not all of the Canyon.

FRS12 115

• Encourage your neighbors to purchase an FRSradio (you too, if youhaven’t already done so).

• Have extra batterieson hand. Those littleradios eat them likecandy. Remember,rechargeable oneswon’t help if thepower is out.

• Conduct FRS radiodrills with yourneighbors from time to time andmake sure they knowhow to use them andthe neighborhood frequency.

FRS Neighborhood ChannelsTOP O’ TOPANGA

VIEWRIDGE ESTATES

CORRAL NEIGHBORHOOD & SANTA MARIA RD.

ENTRADO

ARTEIQUE

CHENEY, CALLON, PARADISE

WEST HILLSIDE, SUMMIT, MESA

EAST HILLSIDE

GREENLEAF

UPPER SKYLINE DR., MARQUETTE

LOWER PART OF SKYLINE AND OLD TOPANGA CYN.

ROBINSON RD.

LOWER OLD TOPANGA AND TOWN CENTER

ENTRADA, ENCINA, COLINA

LOWER FERNWOOD, VALLEY VIEW DR.

UPPER FERNWOOD

TUNA CANYON RD. AND SADDLE PEAK RD.

812101010911129

1099

1213101411

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MARIA RD.

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When I moved to Topanga I found myself face to face with the the problems of when, not if, fire, flood, and earth-quake would visit. What to do. I wanted to be plugged in with the best information. I found that a volunteer group inTopanga, The DRT (Disaster Radio Team) was dedicated to collecting and disseminating information during disasters.Willing to train people, the time commitment was not great sand they were social benefits. It turned out to be a greattrade. A little bit of my time and I got plugged into the loop. Now years later the little bit of time each month hasadded up to quite a bit of training and it has paid of for myself and my fam-ily. We have been fortunate to have missed earthquakes and fires so farand The DRT has really been of great help during floods and road clo-sures.

The DRT sends out radio equipped teams in times of disaster to reportback to the Topanga EOC (Emergency Operations Center) what conditionsare. Using HAM radios the DRT has excellent communications that allowmembers to converse anywhere in Southern California even when power,phones and internet are out. Unlike cell phones The DRT radios reach vir-tually every part of Topanga.

I invite you to give me (Buz Tarlow) a call at 455 1836 and trade a littletime for being on the inside and "in the know". DRT members truly crossall gender and social lines. My experience has been very pleasant withmany great friends and contacts evolv4. The only skills needed are relia-bility and the ability and willingness to learn. I invite you to participate.buztarlow@hotmail.com

• Disaster communications with ham radio is a small part of themuch larger worldwide hobby of amateur radio. Being a hamoperator, or having one close by, is very good insurance. It willstill be there when all the other means of communications havefailed. Your life could depend on receiving or disseminatinginformation in a disaster. In the Valley or on the West Side, thereis more redundancy built into the roadways and lines of commu-nication. In Topanga, we are more vulnerable. The recent floodsare an example, when main roads were washed out, dramaticallyimpacting ingress and egress.

• For information on getting your ham license or just to learnmore, call T-CEP at 310-455-3000.

• Affordable and efficient classes are becoming more availablein Topanga. Call T-CEP at 310-455-3000.

• Look for Web sites on the Internet that offer instruction.

• See “Now You’re Talking,” published by ARRL, the NationalAssociation for Amateur Radio, Web site www.arrl.org.

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Some General HAM Info:Ham radio is also referred to as amateurradio. A range of frequencies, from justabove the AM broadcast band (1.6 MHz) tothe microwave region, at several hundredgigahertz, have been designated for amateuruse by the FCC.

Anyone with a radio receiver or a radioscanner can listen in on ham radio commu-nications, but only an operator licensed bythe FCC can transmit the signals. Typically,ham radio operators, or hams, do not useham radio to broadcast in the way radio stations broadcast to large audiences. Ham transmission is usually two-way oramong groups of people using a transceiver, meaning that two or more hamstalk to each other instead of everyonelistening to a single ham radio broadcast.

There are hundreds of thousands of amateurradio operators in the United States and millions around the world. Ham radio can beuseful in spreading information during emergencies when other services such astelephones, television, or the Internet fail.

Having HAMS in Your ’Hood Is Good!117

During a big disaster, you can probably kiss your telephone, cell phone, and TV good-bye.Chances are, radio will be the only reliable way to communicate with the outside world.One of the safest moves you can make is to be sure you to have one or more licensed ham operators, or “HAMS” in your neighborhood...

HAMAndreaMakshanoff,Project Manager and Journalist

HAM Bryce Anderson, Sales Director

HAMCassie Fitzgerald,Owner of a CompanyThat Creates Film Titles

HAM JoeMorrison,Heating Contractor

HAM Ken Smith,PlumbingContractor

HAM Dick Norton,Retired ElectricalEngineer

HAM BarbaraCampbell,Local Real Estate Agent HAM

Buz Tarlow,SoftwareEngineer

12 Meet Some of Your Local Topanga HAMS. . . 118